Foggy Journey Into Night

Long Day's Journey Into Night is an American play written by Eugene O' Neill. The play is set in 1912 and it was performed for the very first time in 1956, when O'Neill was already dead.

The success of the play can be acknowledged to the possibility that many families see themselves reflected on Eugene's story. Most of families have one alcoholic or a drug addict as a member of their family and I could say that almost all the families of the world have situations and conflicts they have to afford day by day.

As we checked in class, this text written in the 40's has 2 main elements that coexist in the plot, addictions and appearance. Firstly, we have addictions, such as Mary's addition to morphine or her alcoholic husband. Secondly, the performing theme, as the characters act as if everything is fine and they pretend they are having a perfectly normal life and also they show and convinced the rest of the people of that fake situation. Thus, here I let you one link the trailer of the theatre version of the play.

 Some elements that called my attention while reading this play, were the use of symbolism and imagery. Those are a set of techniques that Eugene O'Neill appeals to in order to create the perfect interpretation of what he wants to transmit to the audience and also to intensify the emotions involved,  just as it is explained in the article Eugene O'Neill: A Critical Study.

To my mind this use of imagery and symbolism, also attempts to the interpretation of some metaphors within the play. One the most relevant for me, is the metaphor or symbolism that the fog represents. 

If we look for the definition on the dictionary the definition of fog, we'll find the following, "A thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth’s surface which obscure or restricts visibility (to a greater extent than mist; stincly, reducing visibility  to below 1 km)" (Oxford, Oxford Dictionaries 2015).

Bringing the previous definition to the play, we could say that the fog covers the reality of everyone in the family, is the perfect element, which hides the situations of each member of the family. It hides Mary's and Jamie's addictions, Jamie's issue with money and Edmund illness. 

Now, If we pay attention to the play, the fog is present since the beginning, which may be a clue that O'Neill gave us, in order to set the scenario of difficulty and hidden situation between the characters.

For example, here we have one meaningful quotation, “None of us can help the things life has done to us. They’re done before you realize it, and once they’re done they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you’d like to be, and you’ve lost your true self forever.” (Long Day's Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill, 1956).

 The preceding quote, allow us to label this fog as a strong element and metaphor that forbid the characters of overcoming their situations, they seem to be locked in their current reality.

The second quote that called my attention was, " The fog was where I wanted to be. Halfway down the path you can’t see this house. You’d never know it was here. Or any of the other places down the avenue. I couldn’t see but a few feet ahead. I didn’t meet a soul. Everything looked and sounded unreal. Nothing was what it is. That’s what I wanted—to be alone with myself in another world where truth is untrue and life can hide from itself. " For me this is a magnificent proof of the importance of the appearances and the desire of this family of being unnoticed. It's much more easier to pretend you don't see other's people problems and also that they don't notice you. It's better to have foggy communication and relationship, to not really know the person next to you, instead of trying to fix the problem together.  

At the end of the play the fog was even thicker than in the beggining, which could mean they couldn't overcome their addictions and fixations. Their shelter, the fog, finally becomes their jail.  

References:
 - Eugene O'Neill: A Critical Study, http://www.eoneill.com/library/winther/X.htm
- Oxford, Oxford Dictionaries, 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fog
- Long Day's Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill, 1956.